Siemens Wins BT Deal

MUNICH -- Siemens Networks has today announced that it has been selected as one of two suppliers by BT to supply Carrier class Ethernet network equipment as part of its 21st Century Network programme (21CN). BT will deploy Siemens SURPASS hiD Ethernet carrier-class switches, element management, system integration and support services as part of a comprehensive end-to-end Carrier Ethernet implementation in the Metro, Core and Edge domains of the new network.

Inherent within the Siemens SURPASS hiD 66xx platforms will be PBB-TE (Provider Backbone Bridging Traffic Engineering) technology, currently being ratified within the IEEE. This enables Ethernet technology to be applied to large scale carrier networks, allowing operators to realize reductions in deployment and operational costs. PBB-TE has shown itself to be a new, highly cost-effective transport technology for Ethernet-based communications networks, and one which can evolve to provides the necessary manageability and scalability for the core domains of carrier networks.

“We have been anticipating the widespread deployment of Ethernet in our 21CN architecture for a while but have been waiting for development to help make the technology viable for deployment in carrier grade networks. The implementation of Ethernet also complements fully BT’s well established MPLS strategy within 21CN,” said Matt Beal, Director for 21CN at BT Wholesale.

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE)